The end of winter and the beginning of spring

Hi folks and welcome to another update on my wildlife encounters and sightings, each viewing of my blog is appreciated and as always I am open to answering questions on topics I have raised.

Following my last blog I was contacted by an osprey hide owner with regard to the accuracy of what I stated, he was polite but dismissive until I quoted the openly available facts that were the basis of my comments. Further proof from a respected wildlife trust resulted in him "blocking" me, so much for constructive conversation!

One place has a pond approx 36 x 17 metres stocked with over 2,000 rainbow trout...draw your own conclusions....

Anyway lets crack on with some wildlife, a little nature reserve near home has a stable population of linnets, wonderful little birds...

Teal are seen there regularly too...

Carrion crows with unusual white wing patches...

The juvenile male hen harrier continued to show well at another location...

I love dunnocks and this one showed in beautiful light...

Lapwings are back on my moors...

A nuthatch in the woods nearby...

As you can see I have been covering plenty of habitats and if asked to name my favourite I would have to say.....all of them! This area offers moorland, riverbanks, canal towpaths and some superb woodlands. All of them have brought me some very treasured sightings over the years so each are treated with due respect.

This time of year is close to the start of my peregrine watchpoint volunteering, we called up for a look at Malham Cove and found a peregrine on sentry duty what a great start to the season!

The viewpoint, co-funded by the RSPB and Yorkshire Dales National Park opens on the 1st April and is manned from Saturday to Wednesday with powerful telescopes to help visitors see the birds. Lots of other wonderful wildlife to be seen around the area including green woodpeckers, house martin, redstart, spotted flycatchers and stoats and weasels...

RSPB Leighton Moss is a favourite of ours, good habitat and always something to see...including an otter with a catch, a bit distant but super to see

And a wonderful view of the secretive bittern

Nuthatches abound there too!

Back in my local woods I found a siskin...

We love the east coast, particularly RSPB Bempton Cliffs, a stop off along the way brought a stunning binocular and scope view of a goshawk, too far away for my camera but a treasured sighting nonetheless.

A crossbill was more confiding :-)

Scarborough Harbour provided a great northern diver!

First sighting at Bempton was short eared owl, what a day!

We saw kittiwake, fulmar, razorbill and guillemot and loads of gannets too, more on them plus puffins later in the year.

A bonus on the day...a lovely if lethal weasel!

Regular readers will know of my love of dippers, they are just fascinating as they dive into fast currents searching for food. Now they are paired up, tidying nest sites and preparing to breed again...

Taking a rest occasionally though, but always alert...

The great spotted woodpeckers have been showing well in my local woodland areas, female and male respectively....

In amongst some chaffinches I found a brambling, they will soon be departing along with the waxwings, redwings and fieldfares that have graced our shores in winter. The great season of spring migration is upon us with many favourite birds back or on their way.

 My first wheatear of the year...

And finally...a lesson in patience, the most vital skill in a wildlife photographers kit. My raptor watchpoint has yielded some super sightings of the UK's smallest bird of prey, the merlin. Last year a female perched on a wall not too far away, great but catching one in flight? A couple of days ago all the patience paid off....

I can only try to direct people and photographers to the rewards of patience, after all people have the options there before them. I can only say that this way has no detrimental effects on the wildlife we all love...busy days ahead the first osprey flying through my area has been spotted :-)

Many thanks to all who read the blog, comments are much appreciated but will only appear after coming to me for moderation.

Summer delights and an apology!

We have had a very busy time since my last update from our Scotland trip, sometimes domestic and family issues come before internet time.

I have also spent a lot of time "in the field" not any particular field but out enjoying finding and watching some rather splendid wildlife, more on this as the update continues.

Decent weather decided to bless us in the middle of summer and we enjoyed plenty of warm and sunny days. My love of wildlife gives me the impetus and enthusiasm to get the gear packed for early starts and I have enjoyed some wonderful sightings early in the day, but my first shots are from the end of the peregrine season at Malham.

Helping others to see the peregrines and other wildlife at the Cove is really enjoyable...plus I get to see and photograph wonderful sights like a tree full of young house martins!

The spotted flycatchers have been a delight once again, here one has caught a butterfly...

And of course the peregrines, we see little of them towards the end of the season fortunately one showed well on my last day of duty...

Whinchats are superb and delightful birds, a friend alerted me to their presence on a local moor and a short walk led me to the site.

The first shot is the female followed by two of the male.

The raptor watch I attend often involves long distance views through binoculars and/or telescope but occasionally we get lucky and a bird flies or lands close enough for photographs...that was the case with this female merlin which landed on a wall not too far away!

Sightings of marsh harriers are not unknown in our area but certainly not regular, one day we had three which was certainly exciting...a short walk on the moor got me near enough for a few shots.

Down on the river Wharfe I enjoyed some close sightings of goosanders

...and of course dippers!

A quick shot of a sparrowhawk

Buzzards are fairly regular sightings

A check on my kingfisher site produced some lovely shots

I love the little grebes that also show here

...and as a bonus there are little egrets too...

Efforts to get the blog up to date will continue, and I hope you will bear with me.

As autumn falls upon us the sightings will change, my love of being out there in amongst our treasured wildlife will never change though, watching wildlife behaving naturally is the finest enjoyment there is.

Many thanks to all who read, don't forget if you do add a comment that they come to me first for moderation.

Cheers everyone

Dave